Welcome to the NewSpeak

Been a while. I keep up on everyone else but haven't written here myself. Bite-sized morsels of nothing on FB sure, but nothing of substance there or here.

It's been an insane summer and I'm glad it's almost over. I dated a little, I produced my play at the Hamilton Fringe, and quit smoking. I also dealt with mood swings, upped anti-depressant medication, more mood swings.

But I'm still here. And that's something.

The past weeks have been really tough.

Obviously, health has been an issue. I just spent five days in hospital with pancreatitus (which is an inflammation of the pancreas). It started as minor, constant back pain and grew to be unbearable and then hit my pancreas. The pain was excrutiating. I ended up in the Acute ward at Toronto East General. Morphine and IV drip, when they finally allowed me to eat it was a liquid diet. They ran CT scans, MRIs and x-rays. I was bed-ridden. I had my brother Kevin and my dad visit (that was... odd), and a friend took care of my cats while I was convalescing. Then last night the pain resurged and I ended back in the ER again. Thankfully the pain died down and I was released. Missed a week of work, and I'm exhausted. I don't think I'm going to work tomorrow. I'm not ready.

What's frustrating is that this was the exact same thing that hit in February, only when I went to Mt. Sinai they thought it was musculature and couldn't do anything but prescribe painkillers and sent me home. What's further frustrating is that the doctors couldn't discern what the underlying cause of the pancreatitus was, which means it could come back again. I'll be meeting with a specialist later this month to discuss further treatments and options.

Emotionally... I started dating a woman named Natalie. We get along famously but she recently backed off. And why? Because the sister of a friend I was once FWB with is indirectly slagging her on a message board. She doesn't want drama in her life and apparently this means backing away from me.

As well, I'm stuck on the second draft of my play, we haven't yet secured a cast for the thing and all the other stuff swirling about is fucking me up. It's sometimes hard to concentrate.

My company is being absorbed by another at the end of the month. They haven't outright yet said that I have a job come May.

I need something positive. Anything.

I just spent 7 and a half hours talking on Skype with a woman I met today on Plenty of Fish. By the end of the conversation, we both sounded like giddy 18 year-olds.

We're going out Sunday afternoon.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/globe-investor/canaccord-gets-some-heft-with-takeover-of-genuity/article1488727/

Insidious Worm Makes Unauthorized Purchases When Computer User Is Drunk

And let's face it, even the trailer is 10x better than Twilight...

gotta admit, smallville is crack, and a guilty pleasure. not that it's great or anything but it speaks to the comic geek in me.

tonight they ran a two hour, "absolute justice" with members of the jsa. and thank god they had geoff johns storyboarding this. he remembered the history, twisted it slightly, but kept it in the wheelhouse. they even dropped michael holt's name, fer cryin' out loud. lots of easter eggs in there. it kinda felt like a test run for a spin-off, which -sigh- i'd watch.

and triple props for hiring pam grier as amanda waller (although she needs to be more bad ass). and giving a kick to the 'suicide squad' at the end? a perfect note.

Did Joss just provide a (somewhat) happy ending?

I was right. Joss, I eat your brain for breakfast!

(Kick-ass ep, by the way)

i got into the hamilton fringe. which means i need to write the damned play now. ;)

Happy New Year you wonderful bastards and bitches. :)

You know, if I'd seen this back in 8th grade, i can't help but wonder if I'd continue with the science studies.

Damn you Joss for giving me a gasp-worthy moment in the Willow one-shot comic and then breaking my heart again a page later.

since my move, i've decided that i should sell my bedroom 27" Tosh flatscreen. don't need it now that i'm on my own; i have privacy and can watch the big ass tv in the living room.

a friend of a friend said he'd buy it for $180. i was stoked. was cleaning it today as he was gonna pick it up tonight. i found a bloody scratch on the screen. you stand 3 feet back and you can still see it. it's about 1/4" down and almost centre. i had to cancel the deal. there's no way i'm gonna take money from someone for this.

guh.

aw, dammit.

Brittany Murphy died? Dude, she was 32. That's scary.

Jesus. I think I just jizzed in my pants. Sooooooooo good.

So GQ interviewed JJ Abrams and the gang who created Lost, Alias, Felicity, FastForward, Fringe, etc. and the following exchange made me laugh:

Burk: Do you think you could do Felicity now?

Abrams: Yeah. It would be different.

Burk: And would it still be on the WB, you think—or, I guess, the CW?

Abrams: Probably.

Burk: As just a straight character [drama]? Because even those CW shows are, like, supernatural now.

Cuse: Felicity would have to be a vampire.

Abrams: She wouldn't cry as much as she used to.

Orci: She'd cry blood.

Cuse: That would solve a lot of problems, if she was a vampire.

Abrams: It would. It would be awesome.

Orci: Should we pitch that tomorrow?

• Duh-duh-duh-Dollhouse. Totally didn't see one piece of that puzzle coming. Very nice. I'm gonna miss this show far too much.

• Dear gods, they're gonna make a film of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies starring Natalie Portman. I'm not sure if I'm excited or weeping. Discuss.

• I had to cancel my plans to Chicago this week 'cuz there were no funds (moving cost way more than planned). So no Second City 50th Anniversary show, no meeting up with Jess for a holiday drink. And wouldn't ya know it, I got a fuckin' Christmas bonus in my account yesterday. I had no clue it was coming 'cuz I was on vacation. Guh.

• My cats stole a ring from the bathroom while I was showering on Thursday, but were nice enough to return it to me last night. Little bastards How I love them so.

I've been in the new apt a week now.

It's been an interesting adjustment. Aside from the phone/internet debacle, it's been kinda nice. No roommate to worry about. Discovered that while you need a key to get in the front door, people are a bit too trusting letting people in, so I keep the door locked and probably will invest in a second. Not that I'm paranoid, just safety conscious. The neighbourhood is decent. But you can never be too safe. Last week I had 2 knocks on my door; one from someone claiming to be from the Red Cross, and another from 3 Asian women asking me if I'd found the word of God. (Insert boom chica wow wow music cue here.)

The place is just about all set up. I still have 2 boxes to unpack, mostly computer desk stuff. I dunno why I'm procrastinating on that. The balcony is larger than I remember, and for a bizarre reason I was able to fit the wardrobe after all (I've been trying to sell it and still might). The former tenant took his blinds dammit so I have to get curtains. I bought rods and my brother Kevin is coming Wednesday with a drill for the ceiling. I still have most of my pictures wrapped up but I'm planning to hit the hardware store this week for hooks. If I can get my ass in gear tomorrow, I'll get them then and my brother and I can put them up together.

My kitties are definitely enjoying the place now. On more than one occasion I caught Roo, Hannah and Izzy sharing the bed. This NEVER happened in the old place. And right now Hannah and Izzy are both asleep on the couch. Hell, Hannah'd plopped herself over my right arm on the side of the couch and refused to budge. She owns me and she knows it.

I've written a couple of scenes for Low Tide during my time off (which is of the good, I'm finding the characters' voices again) and I don't have to fight anyone for computer time. I can even Skype with impunity. (Note to Tara and Fawn and anyone else outta town -- get Skype so we can chat voice-to-voice for free, dammit!)

Other than that? Had a chuckle tonight watching Castle. Marc Blucas (BtVS) guested as a guy with amnesia, and one of the characters looks at him in another room and asks "What's with Riley?" (another character). I'm hoping they wrote that intentionally. Right now I'm living for the small moments.

Speaking of which... psychiatrist is back on duty after his hip surgery, so I have an appointment tomorrow. Should try and get some sleep.

Night friends.

well whatcha know. first snowfall of the season. glad it held off until after my move. :)

Holy crap, how good was Dollhouse? Seriously. They really ramped it up. A shame we won't get much more...

An interesting Joss-connection (aside from seeing a former Slayer and her Watcher back together) that I don't think a lot of people know. Stacey Scowley (Sen. Perrin's wife) is married to Kelly Donovan. Kelly is Nicholas Brendan's twin brother (he did Nick's stunts on Buffy and was also in the episode where Xander was split in two). I met Stacey twice when I hosted back-to-back MR conventions in PA. She's a wonderful woman, and I'm glad to see that not only is she getting work, but that she had her moment on a Joss show.

Never thought I'd say this, but thank you FOX for at least airing the episodes, even though you were stupid to cancel the damned series (not to mention putting Dollhouse on Friday nights which you knew were a dead zone for sci fi).

it's friday at 11pm. i am FINALLY back on the internet. wow, what a stupid week, starting with the move.

i'll detail more later. suffice to say, it's good to be back.

Dear soon-to-be-ex-roommate.

What part of we HAVE to vacate the apartment by NOON tomorrow don't you understand?

Why the FUCK didn't you move out all your shit this morning when you had the elevator BOOKED?

You CANNOT move out tomorrow night. You are a class 1 idiot.

Only 3 people on my FL are gonna care, but I thought I'd share regardless.

From Zap2It:

i know i'm not nearly ready for the move, too much packing to do. but the roommate is severely pissing me off. pens are constantly going missing (i need at least 1 at my desk so i can record my blood glucose twice a day; 3 have vanished in the past 10 days alone). he ties up the computer and phone for hours. he STILL hasn't found a new place to live (hello, you got the news October 1st) and he hasn't booked his move-out yet. when i'm not home, he locks all the cats in the bedroom. they end up in there until i come home and let them out.

coupled with the fact that he constantly ate my food when he was unemployed and hasn't once offered to buy/replace groceries since he landed his new job...

jesus. 14 more days.

8 sex tapes and 30 topless photos?

i never thought i'd ever say this to a woman...

keep your clothes on, carrie prejean.

There's a Doctor Horrible one-shot "origin" issue comic book (written by Zack Whedon) coming out next week?

Nerdgasm.

Fox cancelled Dollhouse today. They will air the remaining episodes in December/January, however.

This sucks. Fuck Fox.

my uncle bernard had surgery yesterday to remove his cancer. they took his right lung and an aortic valve.

a few years ago he had a quadruple bypass. here's hoping they got it all, and he can begin to heal.

Oh SNAP. Hehehehehe.

1) Carrie Prejean (c'mon, you really need Google to remember her?) made a sex tape (which is why the lawsuit against the Miss USA pageant was dropped). I want to go to there.

2) V is off to a nice start. I hope ABC doesn't fuck it over. I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

3) Caught an ad for Caprica (due to start in January). Meh.

4) I'm more concerned about teh kitties acclimating to the new apartment than I am.

5) Got an email from the dating website (well, I got emails from 2 different people) last week. Am meeting 1 for a drink this weekend. She types in all caps with no punctuation. This oughta be a laugh.

6) I obviously don't have enough time at work to update past 5).